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Skyline City
Work in Progress. Skyline City serves as the technological district of Paradigm City, supplying it's parent city with all manner of high-end electronics and technology. Skyline City, often shortened to The Sky, lies directly west of Millennium City and links to The Bucket to the South, Darkness Falls to the Northeast, and the Greene Way to the North. Skyline City is unique in two ways. It is the only area of Paradigm City shaped like a crescent, and it is the only city that has a mass-transit monorail system, the latter of which is called The Diode System. History Skyline City was born when several contributing factors intersected, including a skilled STEM research base housed in area universities, plentiful venture capital, and steady U.S. Department of Defense spending. Paradigm University leadership was especially important in the Sky's early development. Together these elements formed the basis of its growth and success. Skyline City, then known San Claraboya was founded in 1877 as an agricultural pueblo. There were 66 original settlers. In 1880 the population of San Claraboya was 4,579, with cattle ranching still the main agricultural activity. For a time wheat became the main crop, but in the 1880s fruit gradually became the main crop and processing of fruit by drying or canning the predominant industry. The railroad reached the city in 1881, the same year that Paradigm University was founded. Deflation and overproduction severely hurt during the Great Depression. Bankrupt farmers from the Dust Bowl, the Okies, made the trek to California. Desperate to feed their families they joined a workforce that was itself impacted by unemployment. The growers, with record low prices and surplus supply, could pay little. Labor organizers and goon squads battled in the labor camps. Woody Guthrie's songs were on the radio and he wrote a regular column in the Millennium City-based People's World. Millennium City had a strong labor union tradition which extended to San Claraboya. During the "March Inland" organizing drive the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) backed the Cannery and Agricultural Workers' Industrial Union (CAWIU), a Communist-controlled union headquartered in San Claraboya, which had considerable success organizing farm and cannery workers in the Santa Clara Valley and elsewhere in California until it was suppressed and its leaders jailed in 1934 by the State of California following sustained attacks by business, political and reactionary forces which, in San Claraboya, resulted in an atmosphere of terror (the low point of which was a public lynching tacitly supported by James Rolph, the Governor of California). The canneries, with a segregated seasonal work force of white women, were eventually organized, at first by an AFL-affiliated company union, but one which gradually evolved, thanks to rank and file efforts, into a union which genuinely represented cannery workers. The fruit industry gradually recovered and by the early 1940s prosperity returned to the Sky. Wartime production associated with World War II brought industry to the city such as building of marine engines and an IBM factory began manufacturing punch cards in San Claraboya in 1943. In early 1944 San Claraboya entered the war effort, and a unified decision by the Mayor and city council resulted in a change of the city's name to Skyline City as an effort to bring moral support to the war, as "the United States has the best skylines in the world, and we are no exception." Skyline City is the prosperous center of the global personal computer and internet industry. Manufacture of transistors is, or was, its core industry. The production workforce was for the most part composed of Asian and Latina female immigrants who were paid low wages and worked in hazardous conditions due to the chemicals used in the manufacture of integrated circuits. Technical, engineering, design, and administrative staffs were in large part male and well compensated. in the late 1980s Skyline City became home to many of the world's largest high-tech corporations, including the headquarters of 39 businesses in the Fortune 1000, and thousands of startup companies. Skyline City also accounts for one-third of all of the venture capital investment in the United States, which has helped it to become a leading hub and startup ecosystem for high-tech innovation and scientific development. It was in the Sky that the silicon-based integrated circuit, the microprocessor, and the microcomputer, among other key technologies, were developed. As of 2013, the region employed about a quarter of a million information technology workers. The Districts of Skyline City Skyline City is divided into four unique districts, each having its own special attractions, landmarks, and purpose. Steel Canyon serves as Skyline City's technical district. It is here that one finds impressively tall buildings, often in eye catching shapes like domes, offset towers, and perfect squares. Steel Canyon is abundant in green; palm trees line the busy streets and a dozen small parks offer recreation areas for the few families that live in this mostly industrial district. Adding to the spectacular visual appeal of Steel Canyon is dozens of Venice-like waterways running throughout it's length, offering tourists and residents alike gondola rides and various places to rent paddle boats, Steel Canyon is also the starting point for the city's Diode System, a series of monorails that run throughout the city. The Diode is much loved and, as a great many of those whom work in Steel Canyon live green lifestyles, the Canyon--like the rest of Skyline City--has fantastic air quality compared to many other areas, such as Millennium City. Science Center is the district where Skyline City's name really comes to the forefront. The largest of the city's three districts, The Center offers a spectacular skyline from buildings that soar several dozens of stories into the air. No other city comprising the whole of Paradigm offers as many high-rises and skyscrapers as The Center does. Where Steel Canyon is The Sky's manufacturing area, The Center is where all of those manufactured goods are put forth for commercial and private sale. The Center's numerous scientific and technological conglomerates each hold high dollar contracts for military and industrial complexes, making the Center one of the richest places in Paradigm City, second only to the Bucket. Science Center is home to the prestigious and internationally reknown Paradigm City University. Crescent Beach is Skyline City's primary residential district. It offers fantastic beach access and all manner of family oriented business and activities, including the boardwalk that are lined with mom and pop businesses, walking parks, multiple arcades, and even a full-fledged amusement park. To the south of the boardwalk are the beach front homes with many more clustered behind it, giving the residents of Skyline City a peaceful, relaxed area in contrast to the hustle and bustle of the primary districts. The Promenade is Skyline City's shopping district. In it are shops for just about everything a techie could dream for can be found. The high end gadgets are available here first and everything from the newest computers, tablets and phones to security systems and even toys can be found. Many restaurants and hotels can be found here, as well. At night, the district lights up as the large screens that in some cases cover the entire side of a building still play commercials and music videos from the various home-grown Idols. Crime Nowhere else in Paradigm City can anyone feel safer walking the streets or going to bed with their front doors still unlocked. With the invention and installation of Judah Von Zant's WARP system Skyline City became a place where street crime is unheard of. The Forbers Guide to Best Places to Live of 2015 lists Skyline City as #1 in terms of personal safety. The WARP system links every home, business, and vehicle directly to their local police station. All someone in need has to do is press a button, which automatically activates a warp pad within that station. Police and emergency response teams then step onto the pad and within less than a second are teleported to the exact location. Within the first six months of its approval for use by the Skyline City council home invasion robberies were a thing of the past. Within the first year traffic accident fatalities had been reduced by 80%. The WARP was the brain-child of rogue genius Judah Von Zant. Judah Von Zant '''is recognized as the co-creater of the Ambrosia-Link, The Warp, and The Diode System. A native son of Skyline City he is considered the greatest innovative mine of the 21st century. His designs and inventions nearly rival those of Olmpus, and the only thing preventing them from being used throughout Paradigm City is Von Zant's refusal to allow the patents to extend beyond his home city. His attitude has not mande him many admirers in the scientific community, but his insistence that only Skyline City benefit from his inventions has made him a public hero. He is also secretly The Overlord of Skyline City, though there is no evidence whatsoever linking him to any kind of criminal activity. '''Doctor Hyde is recognized as one of Skyline City's most notable villains. Hyde is an archtypical mad scientist, making use of all of the Sky's advanced technologies to work his agenda and keep what little crime their is under his thumb. Hyde has used advanced cyberware to hack into government computers to cause chaos, unleashed rampaging giant robots or fitted up select followers with heavy, hero-crushing suits of powered armor, created massive Frankenstien monster-like abominations to cause panic, and crafted up virulet diseases to ravage the inhabitants. He really enjoys devising elaborate death traps and shoving heroes into them to see what the outcome will be. Doctor Hyde runs a very large cult-like group known as Cyberhound, which involves itself in a lot of white collar crime. Doctor Hyde was the villain responsible for the year long incarceration of the hero Chinchilla. Pilgrimage '''is a well-known criminal mastermind with the unusual ability to transfer his essence into computers, which he then uses to commit high-stakes digital crimes. He's the most frustrating of Skyline's high-tech criminals for law enforcement to deal with. '''The New Blood is the largest and most invisible criminal gang operating in the Sky. Unlike other gangs who push drugs and mug people, TNB is pure white collar and high tech criminal operations. They operate numerous porn sites, do extensive terrorist hacking for the right price, and control and disseminate the flow of digital information not just through the Sky but throughout all of Paradigm City. TNB has uncovered and exposed political scandals, revealed top secret information, and hacked into global bank accounts to clear them out. The FBI's cyber-crime division is working hard to catch up to the Blood but, the fact is, TNB is lightyears ahead of anything the FBI can do currently. People of Note Eclipse: A newer member of Heroes Unlimited, the Skyline City born and raised hero has become the unofficial mascot of the area. Skyliners are really proud of Eclipse, and it shows. The city erected the famous Eclipse Tower (see photo above) in his honor. Lucien Ambrose created The New Blood, A group of techie upstarts and investors that led the renewal of the area into the high tech paradise it is now. Through a mutual understanding, they formed a council to govern the city and guide its future, making decisions both small and large to ensure Skyline City's growth and reaching its full potential. The de facto leader is Lucien Ambrose, who with the tech genius Judah Van Zant, created and was the primary investor in the revolutionary Ambrosia-Link, a social media service that connected everyday people with the heroes they so admired.